I enjoy reading books that make you think deeply and question what you really believe. I am currently reading Francis Chan’s Crazy Love. I thought I would simply restate some of his words that have challenged me in my busy little world.
If one person “wastes” away his day by spending hours connecting with God, and the other person believes he is too busy or has better things to do than worship the Creator and Sustainer, who is the crazy one? – p 136 Crazy Love
How much of your time is dedicated to pursuing your life and your goals, and how much is focuesed on God’s work and purposes? – p 145 Crazy Love
Joy is something that we have to choose and then work for. Like the ability to run for an hour, it doesn’t come automatically. It needs cultivation – p 146 Crazy Love
When I returned from my first trip to Africa, I felt very strongly that we were to sell our house and move into something smaller, in order to give more away. The feedback I got was along the lines of “It’s not fair to your kids,” “It’s not a prudent financial choice,” and “You are doing it just for show.” I do not remember a single person who encouraged me to explore it or supported the decision at the time. We ended up moving into a house half the size of our previous home, and we haven’t regretted it. My response to the cynics, in the context of eternity, was, am I the crazy one for selling my house? Or are you for not giving more, serving more, being with your Creator more? – p 136 Crazy Love
Do you want to see God more than you desire security – p 113 Crazy Love
We like finding refuge in what we already have rather than in what we hope God will provide. – p 123 Crazy Love
The critical question for our generation – and for every generation-is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there? – p 100 Crazy Love quoting one of my most favorite authors John Piper
Chew on these quotes and savor the flavor of the depth of their meaning and seek to comprehend the depth of these quotes and questions. Does it challenge you? Does it inspire you? Does it depress you? It does that and more for me.
As parents and leaders in our families, businesses, communities and churches I challenge you to always have a book that you are reading to inspire you, to think deeper, to go further, to appreciate and love God more, to know and to appreciate the love God has for you, and to challenge the way we live every moment of every day that God has blessed us with.
Ephesians 3:16 – 19 “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.” – Amen
